As I was writing this article I came across a Telegraph UK hotel review which questions the role of TripAdvisor and the influence of smart social media on the part of hotels. The hotel review story tells how Red Carnation, a boutique hotel chain, has 5 out of 6 London hotels in the TripAdvisor.com Top 10 hotels for London. Red Carnation Hotels consistently holds the top 3 spots on TripAdvisor.com for London hotels. Kind of reminds me how Kimpton is smart with social media in the USA for high ratings on TripAdvisor. I’ll follow up on that topic in a separate article.
Club Carlson London Hotels TripAdvisor rankings
I have attended five annual Carlson Rezidor Hotels Group conferences since 2010. Radisson Edwardian was a confusing entity to me for some time. They are a family owned hotel brand centered on London hotels with additional hotels in Guildford and Manchester. These hotels are now branded Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels, except for The May Fair, which stands alone as its own brand name. There are 14 Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels including The May Fair. These Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in the UK have a free breakfast offer for stays from January 1-February 28, 2015.
Park Plaza is the other Club Carlson brand in London.
Link: TripAdvisor London Hotels (1,063 hotels – one new hotel added as I write this article.)
TripAdvisor allows filtering by brands with Radisson, Park Plaza and Park Inn brands for sorting these hotels out of 1,062 London Hotels. There is a Park Inn at London Heathrow Airport.
The “I like” bar appeared based on sorts I conducted while writing this piece. Sort by hotel brand icon in bottom center of screenshot.
Links in the TripAdvisor rankings shown below go to TripAdvisor.com hotel reviews page for each hotel. On each hotel’s TripAdvisor page there is a link to the hotel’s website.
#85 of 1,062 London hotels: Radisson Blu Edwardian New Providence Wharf Hotel (Certificate of Excellence 2014)
#102 : Park Plaza County Hall London (90% favorable rating)
#105: Plaza on the River – Club and Residence (93% favorable rating)
#118: Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London (Certificate of Excellence 2014, Green Leaders Gold level).
#140: Radisson Blu Edwardian Mercer Street Hotel (Certificate of Excellence 2014)
#169: Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire Hotel (Certificate of Excellence 2014)
#207: Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury Street (Certificate of Excellence 2014)
#216: Park Plaza Victoria London (93% favorable rating)
#262: The May Fair Hotel (Certificate of Excellence 2014)
#294: Park Plaza Riverbank London (78% favorable rating)
#295: Radisson Blu Edwardian Sussex Hotel (formerly Radisson Edwardian Savoy Court)
#304: Radisson Blu Edwardian Leicester Square (78% favorable rating)
#316: Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London (77% favorable rating)
Six of these Club Carlson hotels have been awarded the TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence 2014. Hotels with no favorable listing did not show that data on TripAdvisor hotel page.
Here is what TripAdvisor states a Certificate of Excellence means.
TripAdvisor Honors 2014 Certificate Of Excellence Winners
NEWTON, Mass., May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site*, today announced the 2014 Certificate of Excellence award recipients. Nearly 58,000 U.S. hospitality businesses have been awarded this year. Now in its fourth year, the award celebrates hospitality excellence and is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor. Establishments awarded the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and represent the upper echelon of businesses listed on the website.
When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the honorees that takes into account reviews ratings. Businesses must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five. Volume and recency of reviews, as well as a business’ tenure and popularity ranking are also factored into the algorithm.
When I am in London next month, I will be staying in three of the Club Carlson hotels and I will see if I can get around to several more to get locational awareness and photos.
I took a look at the reviews for Radisson Edwardian Sherlock Holmes London to see what complaints there were about the hotel to garner only a 77% favorable rating. There were hardly any complaints in the first two pages of reviews and most commenters described the location as excellent.
Seems like it is hard to go wrong with Club Carlson in London.
For comparison, here are samples of top ranked hotels for other major chains.
Hilton
Hilton Conrad London St. James #34 (used to be InterContinental Westminster until 2014)
Hilton London Canary Wharf #130
DoubleTree by Hilton Tower of London #133
Hilton London Tower Bridge #137
DoubleTree by London Ealing #185
Hilton London Islington #189
Hyatt
Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street #58
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill #186
InterContinental Hotels Group
IHG Hotel Indigo Tower Hill #44
IHG Hotel Indigo London Kensington – Earl’s Court #76
IHG Hotel Indigo London Paddington #96
IHG InterContinental London Park Lane #124
IHG Crowne Plaza London Kensington #152
Marriott
St. Ermin’s Hotel, Autograph Collection #51
Threadneedles Hotel, Autograph Collection #143
Marriott London Park Lane #172
London Marriott West India Quay #174
Grosvenor House, JW Marriott #208
Marriott London County Hall #246
London Marriott Regent’s Park #256
Starwood
The Lanesborough, St. Regis #131
Aloft London Excel #210
The Park Tower Knightsbridge #266
W London Leicester Square #370
Le Meridien Piccadilly #482
The Park Lane Sheraton #644
*****
Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.
Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Check out current hotel loyalty program offers across all the major chains in Loyalty Traveler’s monthly hotel promotions guide.
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